Poems and Texts

“FLIGHT PLAN” by Rodrigo Toscano

FLIGHT PLAN

Given the advance of aviation,
We’ve come to think of ourselves as sovereigns
As we shuttle through the clear open skies,
Each of us masters of our hopes and fears,
Each stuck to the frail world of mechanics,
Not to mention random zombie actions.
Still though, this advance (its hard-won glories)
Affords us simulated feel-spaces
From which we record minutest glimpses
Of distant heavens and immediate hells.
Let’s give it up for fired up engineers!
Let’s raise a tall glass to regulation.
Truth might be, we’re all mainly standardized
Scattershot singularities in flight.

Rodrigo Toscano

Rodrigo Toscano’s newest book of poetry, Explosion Rocks Springfield, is due out from Fence Books in the spring. His previous books include Deck of Deeds, Collapsible Poetics Theater, To Leveling Swerve, Platform, Partisans, and The Disparities. His poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Voices Without Borders, Diasporic Avant Gardes, Imagined Theatres, In the Criminal’s Cabinet, Earth Bound, and Best American Poetry. Toscano has received a New York State Fellowship in Poetry, and was a National Poetry Series selection. He works for the Labor Institute in conjunction with the United Steelworkers and the National Institute for Environmental Health Science. While in the Greenpoint township of Brooklyn, Toscano ran and wrote articles and interviews for the North Brooklyn Runners. He now lives in the Faubourg Marigny (seventh ward) of New Orleans.

Related Events